A creative juice bar, as it were...

Welcome to the C-Force! This is a forum designed to inspire and foster creativity by creating accountability. The participants exchange creative assignments, whether of art, prose, poetry, or music, and a deadline is associated to ensure that the assignment is finished.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Braille Manuscript


Here it is. Given the odd combination of words I had to start with, I'm satisfied. It was definitely preferable to do it visually, allowing for less actual story development. The words were:

1. Braille

2. Word

3. Feather

I had some fun with visual effects (pretty standard illustration techniques, but that I have never done before), and made a few mistakes, but the poor quality of the photograph actually improved the image. The word bubbles are, obviously, added digitally.

Mission Accomplished.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Dave's Sixth Assignment: Those Three Words...

Okay maybe not THOSE three words. But for your next assignment, I want you to talk to three different people (it can be via facebook, phone, face to face, whatever). And just randomly ask them for the first word that comes to their head. Next, I want you to take those three words, and create a story based upon them. This story can be visually represented or written. YOU DECIDE!

Nate's sixth assignment: The Touch of Nate's Hand

Nate,

Choose a medium that can be sculpted. It can be soap, clay, cheese, wood, or even marble (if you are feeling like a real Michelangelo-style challenge).

Have you chosen yet?

I'm not going to tell you the rest until you've made a choice...

Got it? Good.



Sculpt me something ironic, something that is either funny or thought-provoking specifically due to the medium (e.g. a mouse sculpted out of cheese, but you can do better than that). Sound good? Good. Post your due date as you please.

Part of Me

Okay, Dave, so I've been thinking a lot about all the people that one meets in their lifetime. In a sense, I become a product of every interaction with every person that I meet. You could say that they've made me who I am, or at least that they've permanently altered the course of my life, even if it comes by a very small interaction. Plus, I've had partial lyrics to this song for years now... and now seemed like the time to finish it up.


Part of Me

When I sit on summer's porchswing
Where the day turns into night
And the shadows they do lengthen and disappear
As the sun, the sun glows red in the twilight,

My thoughts they wander where they want to
As I strum on old Jim's guitar.
Faces of the greenest springtime I do see
Shining fast, with each new evening star.

If you look,
You will see,
You are still
Part of me.

Take me back to starry evenings
The air was clear and full of you
And then I breath it in, and think on time's progression
They say it passed too fast, and what they say is true.

If you look,
You will see
You are still
Part of me.

Time will fly
With beating wings.
With beating hearts,
We will sing,

To you,
To you....

Magma Man 2.0



Here are the new and improved Magma Man pics. 



Saturday, April 2, 2011

The World As We Know It

The prologue can be found at this link. It's a pretty ambitious beginning... I have a pretty good idea of where to go with it, but I don't think it'll see a lot of progress in the immediate future. I need to work up an outline. I see it being a little like a weird modern Candide (not that I see myself as an author as talented as Voltaire, just that it is conceptually similar) with a different underlying message.

This may be subject to heavy revision at some point.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Nate's fifth assignment: Your sensitive side

Nate,
Your next assignment will be fun, I hope. Think of how you are feeling right now. It can be a sensation or an emotion. Whatever word you use to describe that sensation/emotion, you must create some sort of work with that word as its title. The work may be of any creative variety (poetry, painting, essay, drawing, etc.), but it must be somehow related to the title. Try to draw inspiration for the content and style of the work from the feeling on which it is based.

As usual, if you prefer another assignment, I'll be happy to oblige. Choose your own due date and post it as a comment.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

MAGMA-MAN







Finally Dave, my post is up. Sorry about the bad picture quality... the scanner wasn't working. Anyways, say hello to Magma-Man! 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dave's fifth assignment: And So It Begins...

Sorry again for the lateness. All right, Dave. Your next assignment is to write the prologue to your next bestseller novel. I'll leave it pretty open. Let's make it fiction though... and it needs to be at least three pages long.  Since things are getting busy, you may set your own due date for this one.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Beloved Doctor, Ninja, and Occasional Hero dead.

Cumberland, MD- Dr. McNinja (first name unknown), Cumberland’s top physician, dentist, and ninja, was killed last week in a space shuttle explosion. His age is unknown. Details are few and NASA has not released any information on why the doctor was on the shuttle. However, it appears likely that McNinja was attempting, in his usual daring and destructive manner, to prevent the landing of the jetpack-equipped dinosaurs that are currently ravaging humanity.

Early reports asserted that Dr. McNinja was accompanied on the shuttle by former astronaut and Cumberland mayor Chuck Goodrich, who gained fame for preventing the spread of the city’s recent zombie outbreak. However, Goodrich has since been confirmed alive and well. He was a good friend of McNinja and was distraught to hear of his death, commenting in his characteristically apocalyptic way that the Dr. McNinja’s death could mean the end of the world.

Attempts to contact the McNinja family were unsuccessful and nearly fatal, but it is presumed that Dr. McNinja is survived by some number of family members and one possible clone. Many citizens of Cumberland and one gorilla have offered information to help present a sketch of the life of our late resident.

Dr. McNinja is the descendant of a long line of Irish ninjas. He had a degree in practically every discipline there is, with the exception of agriculture. His medical skills were unrivaled. He developed breakthrough remedies for both the rare and dangerous Paul Bunyan’s disease, in which the sufferer turns into a giant lumberjack when near abundant trees (many in the medical community still refuse to acknowledge this as a disease), and, ironically, for the ninja skill-enhancing drugs distributed by the former anti-ninja movie star and all-around bad guy Franz Rayner.

Some have mentioned that Dr. McNinja even possessed superhuman strength. While various ninja experts have scoffed at this, remarking that ninjas aren’t any stronger than the average weight-lifter, those who made the claim rebut that he is also a doctor.

Dr. McNinja was also, reportedly, a firm disciple of Batman (occasionally claiming to have met him, though this seems dubious).

It was rumored that Dr. McNinja had an ongoing feud with uber-cool Cumberland philanthropist and mafia boss King Radical. When he heard of McNinja’s death, sources quote King Radical as saying simply “radical.” He then proceeded to jump a dirt-bike over a pool of crocodiles.

McNinja has been a valued public servant and has helped Mayor Goodrich deal with crises on several occasions. He was instrumental in helping stop Rayner’s ninja drug ring, as well as the zombie ninja outbreak that followed. Of course, some criticized his overly destructive methods, but in his defense, he was a ninja!

In conclusion, as we face the imminent doom of super-intelligent dinosaurs from outer space, let us take a moment to reflect on the life of a man who died trying to stop them. Let us remember the lives he saved, rather than the lives he took while saving the other ones. Let us remember Dr. McNinja as a man who achieved ends, not as a man who justified means (even if he did).

In true ninja fashion, the time and location of any memorial service is unknown.

*

*

*

That is that. Really, my favorite superhero is Batman, but that would have required a serious approach, and I just couldn't take this seriously. All of this is based on sources (see drmcninja.com), interestingly enough. The best part is, he supposedly did die just recently, so this is based on an actual (in the comic) event.

Sadly, all I have actually produced here is incredibly nerdy fanfiction.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Nate's fourth assignment: They're not comics, they're "graphic novels"

Nate,
It's a crazy coincidence that our thoughts should converge like this, but I was debating on one of two ideas for your assignment prior to seeing your posts and this was one of them. I almost went with the other, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. The other can wait.

Make at least two pages of comic book-style art, complete with multiple panels. One page ought to be a full page spread and at least one not so. It must be inked, but not necessarily colored. I want to see words, too (as in, we are jumping into the middle of a story in progress). And action! You might consider making this part of the same continuity as your outbreak image and having that figure appear.

We'll maintain the one-week work time unless you need more. Due: Sat, March 19.

Due date extension: Saturday, March 26.

Supersized R.I.P.

So this might be kind of a weird assignment. If you don't like it, just let me know, and I'll give another one. I'm kind of in Superhero/Comic book zone today, so I want you to pick your favorite superhero/villain, and write their obituary. How did they meet their heroic demise? What were their qualities/accomplishments? If you're feeling really overachieving, you could even write out the scene of their death separately, comic book style. Or you could write a song about it! With some intense bass riffs! That would be sweet. Anyways... where you take it is up to you. All I would require for next Saturday is the obituary itself. 

P.S. You may also create your own superhero to write an obituary for. However, I am of the opinion that it would be more interesting if the deceased were someone well-known. 

P.P.S. Like I said. Kind of a weird assignment. If you want to try something else, just let me know. I promise I won't be offended haha. 

Outbreak


Okay, here it is. For the "blemish" I diluted some acrylic paints with water and just splashed it on the paper. The rest is pen and ink. I kind of wanted to try a more comic-booky look, partially because I got a new pen that I wanted to try out, and partially because I just felt like it!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Clouds

I totally nailed this assignment. A day early, too! I'm pretty satisfied with the results here.

CLOUDS

FIRST VERSE (contemplative, melancholy):
Late, late one night
I found myself staring at the stars.
Wondering, thinking,
How could I ever get so far?

(hum)

I’m sure it can be done,
There’s got to be some way.
I’m starting on the path;
I will make it someday.

(hum)

FIRST CHORUS INTRO:
I can’t find a road
So I’ll have to walk.
No place with a bed,
I’m sleeping on the rocks.
Don’t know the way
But there ain’t no guide.
The doubts are coming now
But I’m pushing them aside

FIRST CHORUS:
I’m reaching for the stars,
And I don’t care
If anyone tells me
That I’ll only grab air.

Reaching for the stars
I’m gonna get there.
No one can tell me
That I’ll only grab air.

SECOND VERSE (driven, serious):
So here I am now,
Getting closer every day.
Every mile I rise
Sends my fears a mile further away.

(hum?)

Not too much left to go;
With this I’ll show them all.
But I didn’t plan
For what happens if I fall.

(hum?)

SECOND CHORUS INTRO
No, this cannot be:
I’m losing my grip!
Got along so well
And now I have to slip?
I made it so far up
Why must I go down?
I don’t want this to happen;
I don’t want to hit the ground!

SECOND CHORUS:
I reached for the stars,
And that was where
I found out they were right:
I only grabbed air.

Reaching for the stars
My failure was bound.
That made it hurt worse
When I hit the ground.

LAST VERSE (content, faster):
Laying on my back,
I opened up my eyes.
Up there I hadn’t noticed
The beauty of the skies.

I took a deep breath
Thankful to have survived.
Here on the ground, I see
What a gift to be alive.

LAST CHORUS INTRO:
What goes up
Must come down.
Should I have always
Stayed on the ground?
The goal was too far,
Doomed from the first,
But not knowing if I could
Would still have been worse.

LAST CHORUS:
Reaching for the stars,
I came to see
A new perspective,
A different part of me.

I reached for the stars
And that was how
I finally managed
To touch the clouds.


If you can guess what specific event inspired it, you get a pizza. Otherwise, I'll never tell (at least, not soon).
I have most of the song composed, but not quite enough to put chords with the lyrics here. I'll tell you now that every two lines of the verse generally cycle through G F C C, the humming part is Em D A, and at least the first two intros alternate by line between Am and A major with a sharp fifth (Aaug, maybe?). I'm not so certain about the last intro or the chorus yet. There is potential for a harmonica, which would be awesome.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Nate's third assignment: Every rose....

I thought of this while I was frustratedly tearing sheets out of my drawing pad. For this assignment you will draw a picture. However, first you must deliberately create a flaw in your canvas: a rip, a drink stain, an major crease or crinkle, or even a nasty eraser smudge. Be creative. Once you have this, incorporate the flaw (don't cover it up) into the image somehow. The precise medium is up to you.

Unless your week is particularly busy, I have no doubt that you can finish this by next Saturday, March 12.

Dave's third assignment: What goes around...

All right man. I had so much fun writing those lyrics that I'm gonna shoot your assignment right back at you. You don't have to do the repeated refrain (only if you want), but I will say that your song has to contain subject matter from outer space, even if it's in a passing metaphor or something (ex: include references to things like black holes, supernovas, planets, little green men, whatever).  I realize you might not have a song floating around to pin the lyrics on, so if you just want to write it as a poem, then maybe figure out a melody and stuff, that's cool.
So yeah, I know how difficult it is to get the lyrical juices flowing, so if you need more time than a week, let me know. But for now let's make it due next Saturday.

Shootout

Here it is Dave,
So it's pretty rough still. But I kinda like it. I wrote it to that one song that has that kind of country beat. You know....that one....
Oh, and I will record it and post it. I haven't had time to do it yet, but I will.
Anyways.

Shootout

El Paso, Texas on a dead end street
With a scarlet sun a-settin' underneath her feet.
Her hand was quick and her eye was mean,
Little did I know she'd be the death o' me.

She said, "I'm shootin' to kill." I said, "I'm ready to die."
From the fiery tongued chamber let the bullets fly.
Now I been shot before through my heart and through my head,
But never like that...I said:

(CHORUS)
Na na na na na na na
na na na na na
na na na na na

(repeat CHORUS)

A gunslinger's heart's gotta be nonexistant,
Buried waaaaaaay deep, where he'll never miss it.
Oh she dug it up like there was nothin' to it,
And shot it to pieces and before I knew it
I said:

(CHORUS 2x)

(BRIDGE)
I drew first but I shot last.
Oh my life's luck's lost, she was fatally fast.
She blew my heart
Awayyyyyy
So I say:

(CHORUS repeated approximately 10,038,520 times with some sick instrumentals a la Hey Jude)

Tell me what you think!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The Braptor




As in, the bass-raptor. I don't know.

Okay, so I was super busy this week, so I wasn't able to actually sit down and work this up until Friday (actually, I did something Wednesday, but that was too boring so I had to scrap it). Thus, all I have is simple line art (though I'm not sure if I could've done much better with any other medium). Shame on me.

Explanation: I didn't feel like getting overly technical, so I'll just point out what I thought was important and the rest is standard.
THE BODY:
(A) is the bottom strap anchor. It is position adjustable along that edge. The shading at the back there signifies a depression in which the strap may reside if the player desires. (B) is one option for the other anchor, but another is seen in the neck picture. (C): four knobs! I have no idea what I'd do with them, but I'd go through the trouble to figure out what they are supposed to do! Also, a switch to go along with them and with (D), three pickups. (E), the neck, is not detailed here but instead is in the next picture...
THE NECK:
The neck was originally conceived as a tongue, but a bird with a long tongue sticking out? Weird. I could've made a reptile, I suppose (the chamelebass?) but the bird is cool and so the neck sits visibly separate, like the knobs and pickups and such. Simple standard wood fretboard and back. Circular fret markers at odds and twelve. In all I'm thinking 23-24 frets, to allow for some meedlying (I've come short on a couple songs). So the picture is boring, but I included what I think is a novel idea: a sliding lockable strap anchor, for when you want to tap while standing (which I find a little hard otherwise). As you might have noticed in the other pictures, this is a five-string bass. I actually want the neck a little wider than standard to avoid pulling the top and bottom strings over the edge when I'm careless.
THE HEAD:
Pretty self-explanatory. It's a feather (If the neck were a tongue, this part would just look gross). The curvature could be a problem, but I doubt it.

I guess a dragon with a neck of flame might have worked as well.

Anyway, perhaps not my best work, but here it is. I didn't mention anything about equipment beyond the bass because I don't care right now.

There you go.
Sincerely, David

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Dave's second assignment: A Bass for the Ages

Okay Dave, what do you think of this one?
Draw up some plans/designs for your dream bass guitar. You can make this as technical or as artsy as you want: for example, you may consider wood types for the body and neck, action height, body shape, colors/stains, designs, fretboard inlays, pickups, amps, straps, whatever. Do with it what you will. I think it would be sweet if you could actually MAKE this bass based upon the information you include in your plans. Of course, that entails a somewhat time-consuming assignment. So for now we will say that by next Saturday (March 5, 2011), you should turn in (at the minimum) 3 concept sketches for this bass of the gods. Remember, you can take this any way you want; artsy, technical, whatever.

Nate's second assignment: "Na na na nanana na..."

Here is an interesting idea for you: Choose any of the songs you have been working up on your guitar, and write a set of lyrics for it. The twist: you have to include a repetitive refrain, a la Hey Jude or All These Things That I Have Done ("I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.").

Of course, these lyrics don't have to form the official final choice of lyrics for the song, but they certainly can if you so desire. Also, the instrumental may be altered if necessary to fit the requirements.

I'm thinking another week ought to be enough time, so I'll say a tentative due date of next Saturday, March 5, 2011. However, let me know if you need more (or less) time. Or if you just don't like the assignment.

Your submission may be either the written lyrics or a recording of them to the music.

Grace's Photograph

All right, and here is my own submission. I actually had a draft done Monday (given the lack of anything else to do on President's Day) and then I made some revisions Thursday. So you're looking at draft two. I'm fairly satisfied at this point, but I'm still open to input. I took a fairly psychological approach, which may have been risky, but I suppose we'll see.

Now, to come up with another idea for you...

The Dude


All right Dave, here he is: The Dude. This was the first time I ever worked with pastels, so I decided to keep it fairly simple. Plus, there were only 12 colors to choose from, so I had to get a little creative in that department. But anyways... Requirements met. Mission accomplished. 

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Dave's First assignment: MURDER!!!

Dave,
Your first assignment is to murder someone. If that won't work out, then please write a short story (3-5 pages) that features a harrowing homicide...

Due date: Rough draft by Sat., Feb 26. Future due dates, if necessary, to be determined at that time.

Nate's first assignment: Chalk It Up.

Nathan,
Your first assignment is a chalk drawing on a dark canvas of your choosing. It must include a human form with the face showing.

Due date: Saturday, February 26, 2011.